It has been a long and
difficult couple of months for the tremendously popular Irish jockey Ruby
Walsh, sidelined since a nasty fall at Killarney in mid-July, but it was
business as usual as the 32-year-old visited the winners’ enclosure on his
seventh ride back since returning to the saddle on September 11, writes
Elliot Slater.

Walsh suffered damage to
his neck in a fall from a first-flight fall from the Michael Hourigan-trained
Friendly Society in the Race Club at The Malton Handicap Hurdle, sustaining
crushed vertebrae in his neck that necessitated him wearing a fixed head
collar for six weeks whilst undergoing intense physiotherapy to overcome his
injuries. Happily Walsh reports that his neck appears to have fully
recovered from the trauma and he has returned to the saddle feeling no
significant discomfort. Fans of
horse betting will be delighted to see him back in action.

The stable jockey for
both British champion trainer Paul Nicholls and Irish champion trainer
Willie Mullins, Walsh regained the winning habit aboard Bundle of Fun, 5-1
in the
horse racing betting, in the three-mile Devon Inn Hotel
Handicap Hurdle at Listowel, the Mullins-trained eight-year-old leading
between the final two flights before staying-on well in the closing stages
to defeat Blackwell Symphony by a length-and-three-quarters.

Once again Walsh is
looking forward to some tremendous mounts this season with Nicholls’ Kauto
Star having returned from his summer break and now confirmed for another
term on duty, along with former champion chaser Master Minded, and most
especially Big Buck’s, the three-time champion staying hurdler who is
unbeaten under Walsh in his last 12 outings, including three World Hurdles.
For Mullins, Walsh will renew his association with champion hurdler
Hurricane Fly (on whom he also landed the Rabobank Champion Hurdle at
Punchestown in May), and with French Champion Hurdle winner Thousand Stars,
the last big winner that Walsh partnered before sustaining his most recent
injury.